If you've been taking care of some spring cleaning while staying at home, Goodwill stores across Kentucky will be back open so you can drop off any items you want to donate.
Goodwill Industries of Kentucky says all 66 retail stores and donation centers will open Wednesday, May 20. People can shop and drop off items under regular business hours.
The nonprofit will also reopen its Centers for Education & Employment, which serves Kentucky job seekers who have disabilities or other barriers to entering the workforce.
"Reopening our doors allows us to jump-start our mission to help job seekers earn paychecks. Ninety cents on every dollar generated from our retail stores is used to fund employment programs for struggling Kentuckians, and this mission is more important now than ever," said Goodwill Industries of Kentucky CEO & President Amy Luttrell. "Although we are excited to open our doors to the public, safety is our top priority; we plan to continue to follow all provisions put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and our local government."
As stores reopen, Goodwill will put the following measures in place to keep people safe:
- Conducting health surveys for all employees returning to work
- Monitoring health and checking temperatures of all employees before each shift
- Requiring all employees to wear face masks and recommending the use of latex or nitrile gloves while working
- Establishing a 'greeter' position to monitor the number of customers entering the store
- Encouraging customers to wear face masks while shopping
- Requiring customers and employees to maintain a social distance of 6 feet or more
- Placing floor stickers to designate where customers should stand
- Using CDC-recommended cleaning supplies to disinfect the store every two hours
- Sanitizing counters and credit card terminals after each use
- Thoroughly cleaning each store every night
- Requiring employees to wash their hands for a minimum of 20 seconds whenever they remove their gloves
- Utilizing sneeze guards to protect both customers and cashiers during sales transactions
- Temporarily closing dressing rooms for protection of customers and employees
- Sterilizing carts and baskets before and after each use
- Providing hand sanitizer for all customers and employees to use while in the store
In March, the organization furloughed approximately 1,000 of its 1,700 employees across the state. Goodwill says more than 90% of those employees will return to work this month.
